375 and Onward

5/20/12 Magnuson Park, site of my very first USk outing

 A while back, someone in the global USk group had shared that she had reached a personal milestone of USk outings attended. That made me curious about how many I've attended, but I didn’t know how I would count them. Then I realized that I have posted on the USk Seattle blog every time I’ve participated – that made it easy. I went back through all my posts and made a spreadsheet of all the outings I’ve attended. It took a while to log them all, but now it’ll be easy to continue adding to the spreadsheet as I attend more.

Today, the 14^th anniversary of my very first USk outing, is a good day to commemorate the total to date: 375 outings!

My personal best was in 2025: 44 outings. Second best was 2017 with 39 outings. The worst year, of course, was 2020, when we met only for the first two-and-a-half months – five outings.

I’ve missed some outings, especially during the years I traveled heavily, so the spreadsheet is not comprehensive of all USk outings. Now that I’ve logged them all, though, I have a useful list of ideas, including some locations I’d forgotten about.

It’s funny now to read the blog post about that first outing, which took place only a few months after I had begun sketching. Here’s what I wrote:

On a rainy Sunday morning – the kind that would usually see me in my recliner with a second cup of coffee and the Seattle Times’ funnies – I drove out to Magnuson Park to join the Seattle Urban Sketchers at my first sketchcrawl. Introvert that I am, going alone to a social event like this – where I wouldn’t know anyone and I wasn’t sure what it would be like – is usually hard for me. The rain, the coffee and the recliner were all telling me I should skip this and go another time.

 But two things pushed me out the door: One was the Seattle Times’ full-page spreads that very morning of Gabi Campanario’s vibrant sketches of the new Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition. Talk about inspiring!

 The second was the commitment I had made to myself to give this sketchcrawl thing a try. It’s part of becoming an urban sketcher and getting out into the world – and really seeing the world.

 I’m glad I got out the door! Being part of my enthusiastic, supportive USk community has led to many friendships that I cherish. It feels good to be part of a tribe. (The sketch above is from my first USk outing on May 20, 2012.)

Captive

 

3/15/26

Something about being captive on a bus or train invites me to make editorial commentary about my fellow commuters. Public transportation is made for on-location comics: So many humans (and a canine) to observe and eavesdrop on. I also find myself having more time for self-critiquing, too.

3/17/26

4/18/26

4/19/26

4/25/26

4/30/26

5/9/26

Inside Google

 

5/15/26 Sixth floor of Google's Valley Building, South Lake Union

Inclement weather is usually an urban sketching inconvenience, but last Friday it worked to our advantage (at least for some of us). Ikroop, a sketcher and Google employee, had invited USk to join her artist colleagues to sketch together at Lake Union Park. If the weather turned unpleasant, we had the option of going inside their office building a short walk away. Since we all agreed at the meetup that it was too cold and windy to sketch at the park, we took advantage of their invitation to take us inside.

Initially skeptical about what we would have to draw inside an office building, I was surprised – and impressed! In addition to sweeping views of Lake Union, Queen Anne Hill and downtown, the sixth floor employee lounge had colorful, cushy chairs, lots of tables, a visiting dog and even pinball machines.

We ended the sketch outing across the street at Flatstick Pub for a drink & draw. Sketching South Lake Union’s glassy buildings, I got to know a few new sketchers I hadn’t met before while enjoying my brew and snacks.

5/15/26 Flatstick Pub, South Lake Union

Google throwdown...

A small group of sketchers who were late for the initial meetup got left behind at the park. Hardy sketchers and good sports, they opted to sketch at Lake Union Park anyway and had their own throwdown!

...and simultaneous Lake Union Park throwdown!

Where Words and Music Come Together

 

5/14/26 Ben Wheeler accompanies Cindy Williams Gutierrez as she reads her poems at Hugo House (quotations are from Gutierrez's poems or commentary during the Q&A)

Dave Nolet on bass 

I recently enjoyed a unique collaborative performance at Hugo House, a literary arts center for creative writers. Poet Cindy Williams Gutierrez read from her book, This Tender Geography, while classical guitarist Ben Wheeler and upright bass player Dave Nolet accompanied her. The interplay of poetry and music was rich and moving.

Here’s what made the evening extra special for me: Ben and I attended the same elementary, middle and high schools and had not seen each other since our 20^th Franklin High reunion eons ago! In addition, I attended the event with our mutual friend Marianne, whom I have known since kindergarten. All three of us were in the same second grade class! It was a fun reunion, and we vowed to get together again soon when we’ll have more time to catch up.

Reconnecting with people from my past has become very important to me, and I cherish every opportunity.

5/14/26 After the event, I went home and sketched from our reunion selfie:
Friends since second grade!

Peek-a-Boo View

 

5/12/26 Olympic Mountains from downtown Edmonds

Meeting a friend for lunch in Edmonds, I arrived early so that I could make a sketch to give to her. My intention was to walk around town or even the beach to find a subject, but just after I parked, I glimpsed this peek-a-boo view of the Olympics between buildings.

After lunch, we took a long walk along the beach, and snow-covered Mt. Baker was in her full glory. Although this peak is not too much farther from Seattle than Mt. Rainier is (though in the opposite direction), I don’t know of any viewpoint in Seattle where Baker is visible. It was a gift to see her from Edmonds. 

Mt. Baker from Edmonds beach.

Although Ruth and I had stayed in touch through holiday cards and occasionally on Facebook, we hadn’t spent time together in more than 20 years. A couple of months ago when I was ArtSpot’s featured artist, she saw my name on the promotional flier and surprised me by dropping by! We promised to get together before another couple of decades went by. Thinking about recent regrets when I didn’t act soon enough, I texted Ruth the very next morning to plan this meetup. I’m finally heeding the lessons that life keeps trying to teach me.

The whole day was one gift after another.

Komorebi

 

5/11/26 Ballard neighborhood

The Japanese term komorebi is translated as “sunlight leaking through trees.” (Japanese has so many perfect singular terms to describe sensory information that requires numerous, somewhat clumsy words to do the same job in English.) Whenever I see it, I can’t resist trying to capture it in a sketch, and it’s always a challenge.

Media notes: My recent use of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels along with water-soluble pencils has been an interesting learning curve. Neo II’s wax base can act as a resist if they are applied to paper first, which makes applying colored pencils over it tricky. When I use only watercolor pencils, it’s a no-brainer to pile on various colors at will, but putting Neo II into the mix requires a little planning.

In this sketch, the dark green is a Cd’A Museum Aquarelle pencil, and the bright yellow-green leaves are a Neo II crayon. I had to remember to apply the pencil first.

The trunk and limbs were a different pile-up: First I used a Sepia Neo II crayon to draw the tree with the “licking” method as if painting with traditional watercolors. My plan was to let that dry and then apply pencil over it (that’s one way that the resist effect can be avoided). But then I changed my mind, and while the Sepia was still wet, I went over it with an Indigo Blue Neo II. I like the mix of warm/cool as well as the smooth (the wash of Neo II) with the textured (dry Neo II).

For many years, I was a purist about using water-soluble colored pencils as my only coloring medium, at least on location. I seem to be turning into a mixed-media sketcher without my conscious intention!

Green Shakeup

 

Audition of natural green Neocolor II, Inktense and Museum Aquarelle

After a couple of weeks of being dissatisfied with my daily-carry selection of greens, I decided it was time for a total shakeup. I pulled all the greens out of my bag – Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons (which had been doing the heavy lifting of greens lately) and one Cd’A Museum Aquarelle pencil. Then I went through all my Neocolor II crayons, Museum Aquarelle pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils and selected the more natural greens that would be useful in my Pacific Northwest urban landscape. The image at top of post is the selection I auditioned. Below are the swatches.

The finalists are checkmarked.

Many were easy to eliminate after applying water. Especially among Neo II and Inktense, many greens look natural in their dry state, but once activated, they become almost garishly bright and less natural. I made the first cut below.

Among these finalists, the checkmarked greens went into my daily-carry bag.

The ones I checkmarked above are my final cut, currently in my daily-carry.

On an errand in South Lake Union, I made a sketch to test the new green palette. Also referred to as Amazontown (at least by me), SLU is mostly an ultra-modern, glassy, urban village, but Denny Park does offer a fringe of green. I enjoy finding compositions that contrast steel and glass with organic foliage. The unique accordion-folded shape of the Skyglass Apartment Building caught my eye behind Denny’s tallest trees.  

5/9/26 Skyglass Apartments and Denny Park, South Lake Union

So far, I like the way these greens go together straight out of the pencil/crayon. I hope I can push myself, though, to find more interesting blends by introducing non-greens. It’s that constant tension between wanting to stay “real” with nature – and not. Maybe some red complements to dull the greens? Maybe adding blue instead of leaning on that dark bluish-green I love so much for conifers? My summer challenge begins.